The Charlton Down Nature Reserve has seen some significant ‘tidying up’ over the last year. I do not know why a nature reserve should be so neat and tidy, with swathes of close-cut grass and pathways that look as if they cover a greater proportion of the site than the ‘wild’ areas themselves. Nevertheless, some wild native flowers have survived this Spring, although to a much lesser degree than observed in previous years. There is a thick carpeting of very small Yellow Rattle plants low down on the ever-decreasing central area which I think has been cut twice at least since last autumn..